Fuel protests that severely disrupted the country five years ago may be set for another round.
As petrol prices soar in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the oil-producing Gulf region of the southern United States, organisers of the September 2000 demonstrations have urged for immediate price cuts.
If the group's demands are not met by 6 a.m. on 14 September, it has threatened to block access to all UK refineries.
Business organisations, however, have warned that any blockade from fuel protesters will spell trouble for British business.
"Businesses will be hit first rather than the government if our oil refineries are blockaded again by the fuel protestors," said Rex Garratt, national spokesman for the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
"Like the road haulage protestors, we are campaigning for the Chancellor to lower fuel duty to help stabilise petrol pump prices, but we do not want to see the sort of direct action that blockades fuel supplies and damages the country's commercial activity."
Business pressure groups such as the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) helped spearhead the campaign against rising petrol prices in 2000, only to withdraw their support for the protests once it became clear the growing disruption was harming the interests of their members.
